LORING PASHA, WILLIAM WING. 



LOUISIANA. 



507 



success, though Gen. Lee had also acted in 

 this tield. In February, 1862, he was made 

 major-general, and transferred to the South- 

 west. Acting as corps commander, and fre- 

 quently in command of a separate army, Gen. 

 Loring fought in all the bloody campaigns of 

 Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Under 

 Bragg, Hood, and Johnston, he bore an im- 

 portant part in nearly every great battle, from 

 Vicksburg to Atlanta. At the disastrous bat- 

 tles of Franklin and Nashville in 1864, which 

 nearly annihilated Hood's army, Gen. Loring 

 was second in command. He was twice se- 

 verely wounded during the war. At the close 

 he was with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, at Ben- 



LORING PASHA, WILLIAM WING. 



tonville, N. 0., and with him surrendered to 

 Gen. Sherman. Several years afterward Gen. 

 Loring became engaged in the banking busi- 

 ness in New York. Lack of success in a pur- 

 suit so alien to his temperament induced him 

 in 1869 to accept an offer made him on behalf 

 of Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, who was 

 then reorganizing his army. Loring Pasha 

 (for by this title he was thenceforward known) 

 contributed most ably to the efficiency of the 

 Egyptian army, into which he introduced many 

 reforms. Chief in active command, Loring 

 Pasha for six years had under him all the forces 

 of Lower Egypt, and was also head of the 



navy, and directed the coast fortifications. He 

 shared with Gen. C. P. Stone (also an Ameri- 

 can soldier), the Khedive's chief of staff, the 

 main responsibility of the whole military sys- 

 tem, and the Egyptian army was indebted to 

 these two officers for whatever degree of dis- 

 cipline and efficiency it attained. In the latter 

 part of 1875 the Khedive determined on a 

 formidable expedition against the Abyssinian 

 King, John. Three months before, 2,500 

 Egyptians under Col. Arrendrup, who had 

 been sent to Abyssinia to enforce an indemnity 

 and settle the boundary-line, had been surprised 

 and massacred by King John. The new expe- 

 dition consisted of 11,000 troops of all arms. 

 Loring Pasha had been first desig- 

 nated as commander-in-chief of 

 this force ; but official jealousies 

 and harem intrigue finally deter- 

 mined the appointment of Ratib 

 Pasha, a Circassian general. Lor- 

 ing was made chief of staff, and 

 Ratib was strictly enjoined to act 

 entirely by the former's advice. 

 Debarking at Massowah the expe- 

 ditionary army marched into Abys- 

 sinia. After several skirmishes the 

 Egyptian forces were attacked by 

 King John, on the plains of Gura. 

 in the heart of the country, at the 

 head of an overwhelming force. 

 Ratib Pasha, who had shown sig- 

 nal incapacity and cowardice from 

 the beginning, and had refused to 

 be guided by Loring Pasha's plans, 

 was terribly defeated. His army 

 was only saved from annihilation 

 by the conduct and skill of Loring, 

 backed by other American officers. 

 This practically ended the cam- 

 paign, as the Egyptians shortly 

 afterward were ordered home, and 

 peace was concluded. After three 

 years of further service, Loring 

 Pasha returned to the United 

 States in 1879. During his stay in 

 Egypt he had been promoted to 

 the rank of Fereek, or lieutenant- 

 general, and had received the two 

 highest military orders, that of the 

 Osmanieh and of the Medjidieh, 

 from the Sultan of Turkey, at Is- 

 mail's request. About three years before his 

 death, Gen. Loring, who had begun to devote 

 himself to authorship, published an account of 

 his adventures and observations in the East 

 under the title "A Confederate Soldier in 

 Egypt." Up to the time of his death he was 

 busily engaged in preparing a volume of remin- 

 iscences, which he left incomplete. 



LOUISIANA. State Government. The follow- 

 ing were the State officers during the year: 

 Governor, Samuel D. McEnery, Democrat; 

 Lieu ten ant-Govern or, Clay Knobloch ; Secre- 

 tary of State, Oscar Arroyo; Treasurer, E. 

 A. Burke; Auditor, O. B. Steele; Attorney- 



